PHARMACEUTICAL
Great Advice From Great Minds: Greg Apostol talks with Jill Donahue, Author, Engage Rx I met Greg Apostol (VP, Alkermes) two days after his sister died from lung cancer. Encouraged by her last words to him, in which she expressed her pride in him and his purpose-driven career, he proceeded to fulfill his commitment to present at eyeforpharma to talk about being patient focused. Where does such passion and purpose come from? With a dad who fought at Hiroshima in WWII and a mother who had a long career as a teacher, Greg learned early about a life of service. And, as a hockey player in Europe earlier in life, he derived the habit of being a team player – working with others on a common purpose to make a difference in the world. After hockey, he began serving other athletes through a medical device company that focused on braces and neuromuscular stimulators. Three pharma companies later, he is again on a team he loves, fighting to find a way to impact outcomes for patients. “It’s always been that way for me. It’s about helping the patient and the customer – building that partnership – to help create better patient outcomes together than any of us could do alone,” says Greg. When the rest of the industry was still thinking about how to increase scripts, Greg was skating to 51 | HS&M MAY/JUNE 2019
where the puck was going – to patient centricity. “I looked around,” he explained, “It was at the height of the nuclear arms race to hire reps, and I saw the frustration it was causing HCPs. I realized also that HCPs weren’t the sole decision makers anymore. Then I had a compelling interaction with a chief medical officer with whom I built a unique friendship around hockey.” That CMO helped Greg understand how complicated the business of healthcare was. Greg remembers him saying “Imagine the inefficiency of our healthcare system being translated to the airline industry. Planes would never get off the ground!” Greg was hooked on the need to find greater efficiency in healthcare. He switched his enrollment in an MBA to a Masters in Health Systems and then a Master Certificate in Lean Enterprise Solutions. He wanted to help his company build efficiency
into customer propositions and marry what was important to the customer, the patient and the company. It went far beyond the pill, he realized, to understanding the patient journey and the customer’s work flow. How could his products help make the patient and customer journey more efficient and effective? He realized he needed to build bridges with customers, since no one could solve the problems alone. For Greg, the magic to creating those collaborations was his authentic patient focus. His education was helping him understand what was driving the healthcare decisions at the C-suite level. Greg was building an expertise that many pharma companies could use. But he was looking for something special. He admits that he’s worked in big pharma with $65 billion in sales and been dissatisfied with the work environment. It’s not about the size of the
